Kuehne + Nagel has agreed to take over the client list of Perishables International Transportation Inc., a Vancouver-based freight forwarder specializing in the handling and shipment of fresh and frozen goods. Although the logistics company didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, K + N explained in a press release that the acquisition will expand its perishables business worldwide.

According to K + N, PIT has access to all of the major airlines from its location at Vancouver International Airport’s cargo area. This proximity not only allows perishables, including fruits, vegetables and seafood, to enjoy later cutoff times, it also shortens their time in transit, K + N said in the press release.

Tim Scharwath, K + N’s executive vice president of air logistics, said the acquisition of PIT will benefit more than just K + N customers. “Following the general expansion of our perishables logistics business in Australia, Europe and South America, the acquisition of Perishables International Transportation allows us to grow these activities in North America,” he said in a statement.

Scharwath projected that K + N’s airfreight operations in Canada will especially profit from this acquisition.

He also addressed K + N’s acquisition plans in the December/January issue of Air Cargo World, specifically highlighting the logistics provider’s interest in the perishables sector. “In airfreight, we have always followed a strategy of both achieving organic growth and growth through acquisitions in niche segments to enlarge the customer-oriented product portfolio, as we did in the perishable market in Latin America,” he said.

“This approach will remain in place, as it proved to be very successful,” Scharwath told Air Cargo World.